A row of poorhouses existed at the south of Minskip, where Prospect Cottages now stand.

Minskip poorhouses site, 1855.

Rufforth had some poorhouses which stood at the north of the village.

Rufforth poorhouses site, 1850.

In 1834, the parish of Aldborough, not part of the Gilbert Union, was reported as having its own workhouse whose inmates then comprised 3 males aged under 12, and 3 females under 70. The workhouse occupied premises on Front Street, Aldborough.

Former Aldborough Parish workhouse.

After 1834

Because of its Gilbert Union status, Great Ouseburn was exempted from most of the provisions of the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act. However, because of the scattered nature of its member parishes, the Poor Law Commissioners tried, unsuccessfully, to persuade Great Ouseburn and the three other Gilbert Unions in the area (Carlton, Barwick-in-Elmet, and Great Preston) to convert to a tidier arrangement of Poor Law Unions administered under the 1834 Act. An 1838 map, published by the Commissioners, shows the areas included in the four Gilbert Unions.

It was only in 1853 that the Commissioners, due to legal technicality relating the union's Annual General Meeting, were able forcibly to dissolve the Great Ouseburn Gilbert Union. In 1854, a new Great Ouseburn Poor Law Union was formed in its place. Some of its previous member parishes moved to join other Poor Law Unions in the area, while Great Ouseburn itself received a number of additional parishes.

The new union officially came into being on 8th June, 1854. Its operation was overseen by an elected Board of Guardians, 41 in number, one representing each of constituent parishes and townships as follows: Acomb, Aldborough, Allerton Mauleverer with Hopperton, Arkendale, Boroughbridge, Coneythorpe-with-Clareton, Copgrove, Upper Dunsforth with Branton Green, Lower Dunsforth, Ellenthorpe, Green Hammerton, Kirk Hammerton, Helperby, Hessay, Humberton, Kirby Hall, Kirby Hill, Knapton, Langthorpe, Marton with Grafton, Milby, Minskip, Moor Monkton, Norton-le-Clay, Great Ouseburn, Little Ouseburn, Nether Poppleton, Upper Poppleton, Nun Monkton, Roecliffe or Rocliffe, Rufforth, Skelton, Shipton, Staveley, Thornton Bridge, Thorpe Underwoods, Tollerton, Westwick, Whixley, Widdington, amd Youlton. In 1869, with the dissolution of the other Gilbert Unions in the area, the Union was joined by several further parishes: Cattal, Great Ribston with Hunsingore, Thornville, and Walshford.

The population falling within the union at the 1851 census had been 12,042 with parishes ranging in size from Humberton (population 1) to Boroughbridge (1,095). The average annual poor-rate expenditure for the period 1852-4 had been £2,566 or 4s.3d. per head of the population.

In August 1856, the Great Ouseburn workhouses was condemned by the Poor Law Board as being unfit for the reception of paupers. The board of guardians was forced to erect a new workhouse which was constructed on the site of the previous Gilbert Union building. The building, which seems to have been complete by the end of 1857, was designed by John and William Atkinson of York. Its location and layout are shown on the 1893 map below.

In 1930, the workhouse was taken over by the West Riding County Council who found conditions to be primitive. Water was drawn from wells, heating was mostly by open fires, and electricity came from a paraffin engine. A plan of the site at that date is shown below.

Great Ouseburn workhouse site, 1930.

The former Great Ouseburn union became part of a new Public Assistance district called Claro centred on Knaresborough and the Great Ouseburn institution was closed down. In the 1930s, the ground-floor room at the right of the main entrance was used for local cinema shows. During the Second World War the building was used as an anti-aircraft station and also housed Italian prisoners of war who were looked after by a Scottish regiment. It is said that the prisoners were escorted to Sunday church services in the nearby village accompanied by bagpipes.

In about 1953, the buildings were acquired by the seed merchants Campbell & Penty. However, little redevelopment has been undertaken and in 2001 much of the interior was relatively unaltered since its use as a workhouse.